God's Gift

2 Corinthians 9:15 says, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift." I have never really noticed this verse. I mean it has never really

stood out to me before … until chapel at school last week … and now I will  never forget it.


I substitute at a Christian school and happened to be subbing on chapel day last week. The speaker was interesting. She drew a huge chalk picture as she spoke. I did not know her and sadly cannot remember her name. But I remember the verse she quoted.

She said this verse is the perfect verse for this time of year because it begins with thanksgiving and ends with a gift. What a powerful observation about this verse! It is a perspective that sealed this verse in my mind.

As I'm writing this it is the day before Thanksgiving. This year will be different for me. My Mom passed away last summer, and her absence is felt. Two of my sisters called me this week grieving again over her passing. I’m reminded of her as I prepare food to bring because so much of how I cook was learned from her.

We’ll have Thanksgiving at my adult daughter’s this year for the first time. I’m excited about passing the baton. She’ll have a house full with her, her son, fiancé, his two sons, two brothers, one of the brothers fiancé’s and my husband and me. I tried to tell her how I cook a turkey but she assured me she could find the instructions online. 😁

It’s a new chapter and I am determined to embrace it because truly, I have so much to be thankful for! Having had a loving mother who lived a long and wonderful life and a daughter who is carrying on traditions are just some of my many, many blessings. Most of all, I am thankful for God's unspeakable gift--His son, Jesus who came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him can be saved. 

NaNoWriMo

Many of you may have read my blog post title and have no idea what it means. Maybe you thought I was writing in some kind of secret code. In some ways I am. This is a term writers, esp fiction writers, know well. It stands for National Novel Write Month. Every November fiction writers j
oin this formal joint effort to get a new novel written or to make serious progress on a novel they have been working on.


I have never participated in NaNoWriMo and I am not this
year either, not formally anyway. Those who do participate work at writing as many words per day as they can during this month. There are goals and requirement for those who participate but as an almost exclusive nonfiction writer, I have never been motivated to participate. And like I said, I am not participating this year either, at least not formally. But coincidently, I have started on my next novel and have written over 8,000 words on it so far. Maybe I should have joined.

My sweet mother passed away suddenly last August. I had seen her just two weeks before she died  at a family reunion. During that time she encouraged me to write my Nigerian brother, Abel's, story in a fiction-based-on-fact similar to The Whisper of the Palms, the fiction I released in 2016 about her and my dad. Abel's is a story I have thought about writing for a long time but Mom's encouragement to do so, followed so closely by her death has tugged at my heart to get started. So, I may not be as disciplined about it as I would if I had joined NaNoWriMo, but I am working on it and enjoying the adventure of writing another novel. I have no idea when I'll have it finished (certainly not by the end of November) but that goal is 8,000 words closer now, at least.

*The picture at the top of this post is my brother, Abel at about 14 years old carrying a preschool missionary kid (MK) in a basket on his head.

Another Cover Reveal!

I have two books releasing soon—“A Stand for Truth” & the first in a four-part devotional series Shirley Crowder and I co-wrote. Today I’m excited to show you that cover!

A Charmed Life

My mother, Alice Jean Blankenship Edwards passed away suddenly August 12th at the age of 86.

One day she was well, and the next she was in the hospital in critical condition from a twisted bowel. Her doctor did surgery on her twice in as many days successfully untwisting her small intestine but she went into shock and did not recover. On Wednesday evening, August 7, she was at church looking at the new room where her Sunday school class would be held. (Her church had been going through a building program for a couple of years and finally had the new building built, something she was so excited about.) On Thursday the 8th her bowel twisted and she was hospitalized. On Friday and Saturday she underwent surgery. Sunday, August 11, her church worshiped in the new building for the first time while she lay sedated in the hospital and someone else taught her class for her. On Monday she passed away.

My sister and I recently went through and divided up some of her things when I was there visiting my 90 year old father, who is doing well, all things considered. Among other things, I got her charm bracelet.

Charm bracelets were popular in the 1950's. I remember them well from my 1960's childhood. Many on the mission in Nigeria where I grew up--both little girls and their mothers--had charm bracelets. I haven't see my mother wear hers in years and had all but forgotten she even had one. But looking at those charms, so many memories flooded back.

As you can tell from the picture, her bracelet was silver. She had a charm of a little wedding and engagement ring, representing that significant moment in her life. She and Daddy remained happily married 66 years until God called her home.

She had three little charms of children but she actually had four children, five counting her adopted Nigerian son. Perhaps the fourth charm (if it ever existed) dropped off and was lost. Her five children are all grown up now with children and grandchildren of their own.

Then there is a charm of Africa and one of a little ship. The ship has the words SS America on it--and then it all came back to me. Yes! That was the name of that ship we traveled to America from Europe on the last time we came back. I was only 10 years old but I remember it well. What an adventure that ship was! It had a large dining room with wonderful food, little round windows from our cabin through which I could see the ocean, shops, and even a movie theatre! What a treat for a family who had just spent three years where electricity and running water were luxuries.

The bracelet has other charms on it too--an RN symbol, and charms from some of the countries we visited on our way to and from Nigeria, like Dutch shoes and a mug from Germany.

My mother had a charmed life and thanks to the home she and Daddy provided for my siblings and me, I have had a charmed life too.

*For any who might be interested, my book, The Whisper of the Palms is based on my mother and father's lives.

Moon Landing

July 20, 1969 I was a little girl who had finished the fifth grade a month earlier. I had spent the year before trying to get adjusted to America, since it seemed my family was back from the Nigerian mission field to stay. Late that evening, my dad called me and my siblings to the family room and insisted we watch the moon landing. I didn't want to. I wanted to continue playing but he insisted, so begrudgingly I came.

Fifty years later, I am soooo thankful my dad made me see that piece of history live! Had I still been in Nigeria, where my heart longed to be, I would only have been able to listen to it via the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) or the Voice of America (VOA) across the radio waves.

The week before July 20, 1969 a little boy just out of seventh grade went fishing with his family on Summersville Lake, WV. His line caught in some bushes when he cast it and he could not pull it free. So, he pulled back with all his might. The line snapped and the lead sinker came flying back at him smashing his right eye. His incredibly painful hospital ordeal lasted 17 days.

On July 20, he lay in that hospital bed with patches over both eyes. Since eyes track with each other, the doctors decided to put patches on both of this little boy's eyes so as to take stress off the injured eye. But on that day, the little boy's father insisted he be allowed to watch the historic moon landing, so they gently lifted the patch on his good eye just enough that he was able to watch Neil Armstrong step out onto the moon.

That little boy grew up to be my husband, John Michael. His eye regained some sight though the eye had been damaged so it could never focus again. Through the years, he had to have several surgeries. Finally, after the eye began to lose its structure and developed painful corneal blisters, at the age of 60, he opted to have it removed.

His accident took a lot from him, but thanks to his dad, it didn't take away the ability to see men land on the moon. Thank God for fathers!

Swimming Lessons, Life Lessons

A few days ago, on Memorial Day, I went to the neighborhood pool with two of my adult sons and my twelve-year-old grandson. These three enjoyed interacting in the pool, in
spite of their age differences and as is normal for a group of males, they decided to compete in a swim race which my youngest son won easily, every time.

I watched these three swim back and forth across the pool and it became apparent to me that though my older son and grandson could swim, their form were not as good as the youngest. He had strokes that looked like what one would see from a competitive swimmer. This surprised me because I knew I had never invested in swim lessons for him.

He was born late in life, many years after the other three children. When I was a young mom with the other three as preschoolers (they are very close in age) I had enrolled them all in swim lessons. But this youngest one always had an older sibling to watch him in the pool and I was an older, tireder mom, so he never benefited from lessons. Yet, there he was, now as a 22 year-old, swimming like a pro.

I asked him how and where he ever learned to swim so well. His reply grabbed my heart. He said, "Much of my swimming as a kid was done with my best friend, Zack who was on both the swim and dive teams. I learned by watching him and I had to learn just to keep up with him."

Zack and my son met in kindergarten and were best friends all of their lives … right up until the day Zack died. When he was only 15, he was struck by a car crossing a busy street and died at the scene. My son served as a pall bearer as well as one of the handful of friends who shared how much he had meant to them. Zack has been gone over five years now but his influence lives on.

Funny how one person's life impacts another.

New Insight on Prayer

I just discovered something new in the Bible study homework I’m doing for my BSF Bible study. This year we have been studying "People of the Promise Land", a study that has covered many Old Testament characters. We are winding it down now with a study of David and then finally Solomon. As we do this we have looked simultaneously at a couple of the history books, like Kings and Chronicles, and Psalms. My newly-gained insight comes from Psalm 72. 

Psalms 72 is basically a prayer King David wrote for his son Solomon. It has 20 verses of requests for wonderful things from God, including things like that peace would abound in Solomon’s day, that he would have dominion over many lands, other kings would bow down to him & bring him gifts ... and then in vs. 15, right after saying, “May gold be given to him” it says, “May prayer be made continually & blessings invoked for him all the day’s of his life.”

Wow! 

This sure sheds some light on prayer! It’s as good as gold, literally! (Even better, actually.) So, you have no gold to give someone or some worthy cause? Give them prayer.

I can’t believe I didn’t notice this verse earlier in my life. I absolutely would have written about it when I was writing my book about prayer, Prayer: It's Not About You

Devotions

A Mountain too Big to Climb

Read: Ezra 5: 2, Zechariah 4:5-9



“What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain…”Zechariah 4:7

“Impossible! This will never get done! It’s too hard and there are too many obstacles in the way of success!”

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever had a task before you that was so overwhelming it felt like a mountain too big to climb? In Zechariah 4:7 God tells Zerubbabel that He will make the mountain in front of him become a plain. In other words, God would change the mountain that was too big to climb into a flat plain which could easily be crossed.

And just what was this mountain that was before Zerubbabel? The mountain in this passage is most likely a symbolic mountain rather than a real one. If this passage is cross referenced with Ezra 5: 2, we find that the task before Zerubbabel was that of rebuilding the temple. This task (rebuilding the temple) was such an overwhelming one that it seemed like a mountain of work ahead of him! But what did God say He would do? God said He would turn the mountain into a plain. How was He going to do this? Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.

Do you have a mountain of some kind in front of you? God, through His Spirit, can turn it into a plain which you can easily cross. You can trust Him with your mountains.

Prayer: Lord, You are a God who can make mountains into plains; the impossible possible. Teach us to trust you with our problems. In your Son’s name, Amen.



Thought for the Day: With God all things are possible!

The Month of Love

How can it be February, already? And the middle of February, at that.

Here in Kentucky, where I live, spring is slowly trying to overtake winter, for which I am thankful. Being born and having spent my childhood in Africa, I must admit, I don't really like winter time and the cold temps it brings, though I will be the first to admit that snow is pretty as long as I don't have to go out in it. But I am always happy to see spring on its way!

February is the month of love, especially the love of a man and woman who have found each other and entered a committed relationship. I am blessed with this kind of love and this Valentines, I will send some special "I love you's" to the man I love. He has already gotten me a gift--it came in the mail a few days ago.

But during this month of love it's good to remember the greatest love of all, which is, of course, God's love. Here are a few Bible verses that tell us about God's love:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him could be saved." John 3:16-17

"Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God but anyone who does not love is not of God, for God is love." 1 John 4:7

And my personal favorite:
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

These are just three of the many, many passages in the Bible that tell us of God's great love. I challenge you to find more!

Winter Thoughts

A Winter Devotion 

There’s no Place like Home

Read: Hebrews 11:9-10, 13-16

“… they desired a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Hebrews 11:16 (NASB)

            The forecast called for snow, snow, and more snow! Sure enough, the snow didn’t stop falling for two days after 13 inches had accumulated. Schools canceled classes; businesses closed, and only emergency services stayed open. My family was snowed in for days! Fortunately, I had paid attention to the forecast and purchased enough food and milk for a week. We were also fortunate that our electricity stayed on.

So that week was spent at home. Each day we slept late, the children played in the snow and I was still able to wash their wet clothes and give them warm dinners each evening. The big snow that shut down my southern city was many years ago now but I still recall it as one of the most pleasant weeks of my life because I and mine were safe at home.  

We all have the instinctive desire to long for home. Hebrew 11 talks of men and women of faith who longed for a better home – one that is built by God Himself. Verse 16 amazes me. It says of these people that God was not ashamed to be called their God. What does it take for God to be pleased to be called your God? Do you have to do some mighty deed or achieve a high level of spirituality? No, you simply have to have a longing for a better place – a heavenly place, a city whose architect and builder is God!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You have placed deep in our hearts a longing for home. Help us to realize this is because you are preparing a home for us. Help us to understand that we are truly strangers on this earth making our way to the city whose builder is you. In your Son’s name, Amen.



Thought for the day: There’s no place like home!